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At one point in time, things were looking good for Papoose. He had a co-sign from Kool G Rap, DJ Kay Slay in his corner and a deal with Jive Records. Leaving Jive after a year without a release and allegedly with all of his $1.5 million signing bonus, things took a turn for the worse as Pap was caught attempting to smuggle a key for Remy Ma’s handcuffs and bust her out when they were to be married behind bars. Fast forward to 2013, and The Nacirema Dream is finally released. To save you the trouble of listening to the actual album, which is basically a time capsule of everything that was shitty about rap in 2006, I’ve collected some quotes from the man himself from a recent XXL mag feature to shine some light on a true intellectual giant of our time.

Intro

Papoose: I wouldn’t say an interlude; it’s basically an introduction to the album. It’s just titled “Intro”, but it’s not titled. ‘Attempted Assassination’ is what the title is to me, but it’s not printed on the track list.

OK, that was confusing.

Motion Picture

Papoose: “Motion Picture’ is the art of storytelling at its best. As you’re hearing the lyrics, you can actually see what’s being said. You can visualize it—you know what I’m saying? The pictures [that are] being painted … it’s a story, a detailed story. It’s two different stories, actually. The best way for me to describe it is the art of storytelling at its best.”

What you’re saying is, it’s story telling? And it’s at it’s best? And you’re painting pictures, with words and stuff?

Cure ft. Erykah Badu

Papoose: I just think that record’s gonna change the world, honestly.

Erykah Badu: I sang those vocals 10 years ago. That’s 2 babies ago. Sheeeit. So mcs just throwing out old material – no paperwork.

Ouch.

Pimpin’ Won’t Die

Papoose: Tupac had a classic record called ‘Brenda’s Got A Baby.’ In that video and that record, the young girl had a child and they threw the baby in the trashcan, something that actually happens a lot. ‘Pimpin’ Won’t Die’ is actually a continuation to ‘Brenda’s Got A Baby.’ I’m actually telling you what happened to that child when the child grew up.

So Brenda’s baby somehow survived being thrown into a trashcan, raises herself in said can and then grows up to become a hoo-er? You’re the Stephan King of rap, Pap.

6 a.m. feat. Jim Jones & Jadakiss

Papoose: ’6 a.m.’ basically describes the feeling a person would get when the police is knocking on your door at 6 a.m.

Genius. Kind of like that Ice-T record called 6 N The Morning, right? With straight outta 2007 rap cameos.

Law Library Part 8

Papoose: I get a lot of dudes who come up to me on that street and say ‘I wouldn’t be talking to you right now if it wasn’t for your law library’. I got lawyers who approached me about that like, ‘How do you know this stuff? Did you take that bar exam?’ And I’m like, ‘Nah, I just read the law books and put it into lyrical format’.

No need for legal aid or even a lawyer if you’ve got Pap on your iPod.

Faith

Papoose: Part of the reason they held my album up was because we was trying to play samples. They actually had a guy at the label and that was his job. He would get paid just to be on the phone and clear samples. I’m talking, we would speak to this guy every week like, ‘Yo, any progress?’ No progress from this guy, but I guess he was getting paid to draw it out and make the process longer. I would go look a record up on the Internet and find it. I would call these people up, ‘Hey, listen. This is Papoose. I’m trying to clear this record from the O’Jays. It’s featuring my wife and me. She’s incarcerated.’ They on the phone like, ‘Is this really Papoose? You don’t got a lawyer for this?’ ‘No, I’m doing it myself,’ and I actually got results like that. I actually cleared a lot of samples on my own.

Guess now we know why the album is six years late – Pap was googling samples!

Turn It Up feat. DJ Premier

Papoose: Honestly, I wouldn’t have done the album without Premier. Growing up a fan of hip-hop, if you’re a lyricist, you gotta have Premier on your album. I would’ve held the album up maybe five more years without Premier on it.

Another five years? Why not wait until the year 3000 when punchline rap is back?

Get At Me

Papoose: Don’t talk about me behind my back. Don’t type it on the Internet in the comments. Confront me with it and maybe we could resolve it.

My bad.

Where I Come From ft. Dada Stone, Odog, Manson, Kino & C-Brown of Thugacation

Papoose: I’m in the position where I can finally put out a commercial album. Not commercial ….but commercial level to reach the mainstream world. And I just wanted to give an opportunity for them to shine.

If by “commercial world” you mean the 301 people who copped the album, then yeah, great job.

Keep up with Robbie’s weekly ‘No Country For Old (Rap) Men’ here.